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TEN BLACK ICONS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT; Current, historical, and pre-historical sheroes and heroes
6. PROF. PLO LUMUMBA (1962-TO DATE)
Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba is Kenyan Professor. He shortly served as the Director of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission. Currently, he's the Director of The Kenya School of Laws.
''P.L.O'' as his compatriots call him, is one of the most admired lawyers in East Africa. He is also a determined Pan-Africanist and has delivered several powerful speeches across Africa about African solutions to the continent.
Lumumba is one of the 21st-century soldiers who wish to see Africans completely free. According to him, we might be free physically but not mentally and economically. Colonialism took a new form, neocolonialism.
Slave chains were taken out of our hands, necks, and legs and then placed on our minds. Lumumba's number one call is for the African youths to wake up and change Africa for the best.
Prof Lumumba |
2. DR. KWAME NKRUMAH (1909-1972)
Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah was a Ghanaian politician and revolutionary leader. He was the first prime minister and president of Ghana having led the God Coast to independence from Britain in 1957.
Ghana was the first African country to gain independence. Nkrumah insisted that the independence was meaningless unless it is associated with the independence of other African countries.
He was a strong advocate of Pan-Africanism and was often called the father of pan-Africanism in Africa. Nkrumah is also a founder member of the Organization of African Unity of which he was its 3rd chairperson.
His vision was of a united African continent with one government, one currency, and one army. He believed that for the black man to be respected and prosper in the world, he had to have a government of his own and as powerful as other white nations.
If you listen to his speeches and read his books you will realize that he warned us against everything that is happening now to the African countries mainly corruption, dictatorship, and neocolonialism.
Kwame Nkrumah's speech about Africa Unity
Dr. Kwame Nkrumah |
3. MARCUS GARVEY (1887-1940)
Marcus Garvey was a Jamaican-born Black nationalist and one of the best leaders of the Pan-Africanism movement. His movements sought to unify and connect people of African descent worldwide.
In the United States, he was a noted civil rights activist who founded the Negro World newspaper, a shipping company called Black Star Line, and the Universal Negro Improvement Association, or UNIA, a fraternal organization of black nationalists.
As a group, they advocated for “separate but equal” status for persons of African ancestry, and as such, they sought to establish independent Black states around the world, notably in Liberia on the west coast of Africa.
I am those people who feel uncomfortable when Garvey is classified to any single country. He was an all-black leader including us who are at home in Africa.
Garvey is known all over the world as one of the fathers of pan-Africanism. He inspired African freedom fighters like Jomo Kenyatta and Kwame Nkrumah. Slogans such as "black is beautiful", are attributed to him.
Hon. Marcus Garvey |
4. MANSA MUSA (c. 1312-c.1337)
Musa I or Mansa Musa was the tenth Mansa (a military title meaning emperor) of the Mali Empire in West Africa. His birth name was Mari Jalak.
A research done by Forbes described Mansa Musa as the wealthiest individual in all human history. Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Ellon Musk own nearly half of what Mansa had. His estimated net worth was over 400 billion dollars.
At the time of Musa’s ascension to the throne, Mali in large part consisted of the territory of the former Ghana Empire, which was conquered by Mali.
In a quest for expansion, African empires conquered other empires. The Mali Empire consisted of land that is now Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania, and The Gambia.
During Musa’s reign, Mali was the largest producer of gold in the world. The emperor was a patron of science, the arts, literature, and architecture and the empire flourished culturally during his reign.
One of the oldest Universities in the world, Sakore University was established by Mansa Musa in Mali.
An illustration of Mansa Musa |
5. PIYE or PIANKI (c. 741-c. 716)
Piye was a Nubian king who is famous for conquering Egypt. He is the founder of the 25th dynasty in ancient Egypt where Dr. Hendrik Clarke says that he showed the Egyptians once again how a country should be ruled.
The South who was the ruling class had lost the power but now through Piye, it was restored. After Pharaoh Piye had restored black influence in Upper Egypt, he proceeded to the North which made the princes' of Lower Egypt recognize him as their overlord.
During Piye’s reign, a temple was built for Amun (their God) in Gebel Barkal.
Pharaoh Piye, 25th Dynasty |
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